Lansing Area Hate Crime Stats Skyrocket For Second Year

WILX.com released a report Friday night showing the trend of increasing hate crimes in Mid-Michigan. The number of incidents based on race, ethnicity, and orientation has gone up dramatically in our backyard, and nationwide.

WILX cites a FBI report that shows a 17 percent increase in hate crimes nationwide from 2016 to 2017. In Lansing alone, there were 12 hate crimes in 2017. In 2016 there were 2 incidents.

But, the staggering number from Mid-Michigan was the reported hate crimes in Blackman Township where there were 23 in 2017. The Jackson County community has less than 40,000 residents. The WILX report compared Blackman to Michigan's biggest city, Detroit, where there were 41 hate crimes in a city with over 650,000 people.